If brand-name senators like Barbara Boxer, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham can’t get a climate bill through the Senate, does a quiet guy like Jeff Bingaman stand a chance?

Proponents had better hope so.

Boxer, Kerry and Lieberman haven’t been able to put together 60 votes for the carbon caps they’ve pushed. Graham gave up trying months ago. That leaves the bills Bingaman has shepherded through his Energy and Natural Resources Committee looking pretty good — and maybe like the only ones that have a real shot at passing.

It’s a new role for Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who — unlike his bigger-name predecessors — rarely makes appearances on the Sunday talk shows, doesn’t give impassioned speeches and seldom injects himself into hot-button debates.

Among reporters, Bingaman is known as one of the most frustratingly unquotable members of Congress, who nearly always responds to questions with measured qualifiers.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to see,” is a standard Bingaman response.

Here’s what Bingaman does do: He slowly, carefully and methodically hammers out pragmatic, detailed energy legislation with Republican partners in long, dull markups that don’t draw attention but do produce solid pieces of legislation forged in the order of the committee process.

And as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrambles to get a comprehensive and contentious energy package to the floor in the heat of campaign season, with his caucus fracturing all around him and oil spill politics further inflaming the debate, Bingaman’s committee-approved energy bills have a certain appeal.

“It’s not surprising that, at the end of the day, they turn to Jeff Bingaman,” said Scott Segal, an energy lobbyist at Bracewell & Giuliani. “The Senate does not lack for personalities who can talk about energy, but, these days, to find a senator who’s actually capable of passing bipartisan legislation is very rare. Bingaman is a yeoman soldier who labors long and hard, understands the minutiae and does so without a lot of public recognition. That might be what they need right now.”
Over the past several months, the zealous Kerry had emerged as the Democrats’ point man on Senate climate change legislation.

Kerry has no real jurisdictional claim on the issue — as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he would have overseen just a small slice of the bill. But professing a passion for saving the planet, the Massachusetts Democrat led the way on crafting a climate bill last fall. He forged an alliance with Lieberman and Graham, gave speeches around the country and on the world stage at the Copenhagen climate summit and, this spring, led a tireless campaign to recruit industry heads and Senate colleagues to his cause. Some observers said that Kerry also appeared motivated by a desire to rehabilitate his political career and, perhaps, to position himself for an appointment as secretary of state.

But despite his outreach, Kerry’s bill has never come within spitting distance of 60 votes. Graham, his only Republican ally, ditched the process in April, just before the bill was to have been rolled out. Kerry’s draft has never been marked up by a committee. And after a White House meeting this week aimed at finding a realistic way forward on energy and climate legislation, Kerry admitted that his bill would be jettisoned, with perhaps only pieces of it being considered for the final energy package.

As for the shape of that final package, it appears increasingly possible that Democrats and moderate Republicans will coalesce around a mandate increasing renewable electricity and clean technology development. That’s the bill that Bingaman hammered out through a 12-week Energy and Natural Resources Committee markup last spring, working closely with the committee’s ranking Republican, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The markup drew little attention at the time, but it produced a bill that would advance President Barack Obama’s clean energy goals and has already won “yes” votes from four Republicans and two moderate Democrats who had been expected to vote “no” on Kerry’s bill.

Of course, Bingaman’s energy bill doesn’t have the one key piece that many Democrats say is necessary for a climate change bill — a price on carbon. But while prospects this year for a Kerry-Lieberman-style, economy-wide carbon cap look dead, there is a willingness among some Republicans and moderate Democrats to consider a cap on power plants only.

As it happens, Bingaman is now writing a power-plant-only bill.

In the wake of the BP oil spill, any bill that clears the Senate will almost certainly contain provisions overhauling offshore-drilling rules and the federal agency that oversees them.

As it happens, on Wednesday, Bingaman and Murkowski passed a bipartisan offshore oil overhaul out of the Senate energy panel. That measure is now headed to Reid’s office.

Asked about the fact that the package now coming together in Reid’s office may bear more of his stamp than that of any other senator, Bingaman offered a typically low-key response.

“The only thing I’ve done is to say that what we have been able to do on a bipartisan basis in our Energy Committee ought to be brought before the Senate as part of what is considered. That’s my position,” he said.

Some of his colleagues worry that Bingaman’s mild-mannered modesty could be a hindrance when it comes time to round up votes. Democratic Whip Dick Durbin on Wednesday praised Kerry’s passionate efforts on climate change. “John Kerry devoted almost all his waking moments to bringing this bill forward — I’ve never seen him commit himself in this manner since he ran for president. He was able to be the leading force on this in our caucus.”

Asked if Bingaman could bring the same passion and be a leading force on the issue, Durbin said, “I don’t know.”

But some experts said a lack of passion might not be a disadvantage, especially among members whose interactions with Kerry may have left them with climate fatigue.

“I don’t know that Bennett Johnston was the most charismatic figure, but he got a lot of energy bills done,” Paul Bledsoe, director of communications and strategy at the bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy, said of the former Louisiana senator who was the energy committee’s top Democrat for 13 years.

“Bingaman is definitely a workhorse, not a show horse. Mastering the substance and details and going across party lines [are] key to moving energy legislation. Going on Sunday shows is not.”
Others noted that Bingaman has a strong track record on teaming with Republicans to move energy legislation:

For years, he and fellow New Mexican Pete Domenici maintained an island of collegial partnership within an increasingly partisan Senate – and their relationship bore fruit in the form energy bills to the floor that passed with votes of 74-26 and 86-8 in 2005 and 2007.

He seems to have maintained that cordial co-operation with Murkowski, his new counterpart on the committee, who calls him “a wonderful partner to work with.”

Having Murkowski, a respected member of Senate Republican leadership, as his ally is perhaps Bingaman’s ace in the hole. While Bingaman himself is unlikely to make too much headway with Republicans, Murkowski’s outreach for votes could yield significant dividends.